Think About It

Have you ever heard of Richard Valenzuela? Maybe you know him by his stage name, Richie Valens. Valenzuela was a Mexican-American musician maybe best known for being one of the people killed in the plane crash that took the life of Buddy Holly and J. P. Richardson (also known as the Big Bopper) on February 2, 1959. Valenzuela was also the subject of the movie, “La Bamba”. There is a lot to the story of Richie Valens, but to me the thing that stands out is not the lost potential of a “star” that passed away at 17-years-old, it is how much he was able to pack into less than twenty years. Valenzuela overcame a lot to produce three songs that are still being played over sixty years later. “La Bamba”, “Come On, Let’s Go” and “Donna” cemented this teenager in Rock And Roll history. As we look back at sad tales like this one we can do one of two things. We can lament what they didn’t get to do or we can celebrate what they did with the little time they had. When we choose the latter, ...

There is a big push these days to be inoffensive. I get it, in fact I believe that we should put our best foot forward and work on treating everyone with respect. Interestingly, this principle that is being espoused by the modern world has its roots in Christianity. Jesus commanded His disciples to love all people and Paul included kindness as a part of the “fruit of the Spirit”. Paul put it pretty succinctly, “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.” (Colossians 3:12-14). Yes, disciples of Jesus have a responsibility to treat people with respect. However, I believe there is something people can do today that will make this principle easier – we must stop being so easily offended. When we take our emotions off of our sleeves and give others the b...

Not long ago, I was asked to baptize someone in the river. I have done several baptisms in the baptistries at church buildings, but I believe this the first one in a river. I was in unfamiliar territory, dodging rocks and other stuff in the water. So when I got to where the water was deep enough, I had to really think about what I was saying and doing. I wanted to get the right words and make sure I did the right things – then it dawned on me, what was happening was between the person being baptized and the Lord. Sure, I needed to do what I was supposed to do the way I was supposed to do it, but the heart of the process of salvation is the commitment of the person and the grace of God. The bond that was being formed was between them, I was just a tool being used. We must be careful to understand our purpose – especially in evangelism. It isn’t us that saves people – nor even our message that converts them. We are merely a conduit through which the message of salvation is spread...

Will you be worshipping the Lord this weekend? Now, let me rephrase that because it is possible to worship God wherever we are. Will you be in a worship service this weekend? If not, why not? What is more important than spending time worshipping? I know there are all kinds of events and activities that are tugging at us, but are any of them more important or more special that spending time with like-minded believers in worship to God? The great thing about our society is that most of us have quite a bit of time off each weekend, so we can fit in a lot of activities. With this in mind, are we going to block out a certain amount of time to publicly honor the Lord? Centuries ago, a very busy King David, made time for God. I am sure there were a lot of things he felt like he needed to get accomplished, but he also realized the value of worship when he wrote, “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I ha...

When we look back on each day, what do we remember? At the end of the day, as we lay in our beds and assess what has happened, do we think about the good or the bad? Do we recall the victories or the defeats? If you are like many of us, our evenings are full of regrets. While this is bad enough in-and-of-itself, have you ever thought about what a defeatist view of today does to tomorrow? If we are counting the losses as we end the day, we are more apt to carry that thought process into tomorrow. The other day I came across a bit of wisdom that said, “Praise the day at night, and life at the end.”. I think we are pretty good at being reflective at the end of our lives – we can look back at what we have done and find significant value in it – but how much more could we accomplish if we ended each day with praise? No, we shouldn’t gloss over negatives, but by ending the day counting our accomplishments, we provide a solid foundation for a better day tomorrow. What do you think a...

Have you ever thought about the difference between faith and hope? Now, just for a minute, I would like to remove this from a spiritual discussion and focus on our day-to-day lives. Faith is having the confidence to believe something that hasn’t happened yet is going to happen. It is less about wondering and more about waiting. Hope, on the other hand, isn’t as much about confidence as much as it is about wanting something and believing it could happen. The expectation might not be there, but the excitement is. Hope is about seeing what is possible and looking forward to it happening – in essence, it is another word for optimism. The reason I being this up is to ask us if we are people of hope. Again, I am not confining this discussion to spiritual matters, I am asking about our perspective. Do we have hope that good things can happen? There are too many of us that have convinced ourselves that the worst awaits us – how much better could our attitudes be if we let ourselves ...

There is a lot of discussion about the beginning of the world, but for those who believe in God, we must make sure that we don’t get too sidetracked by the “hows”, the key is the “Who”. When we accept the Bible as truth, we acknowledge that God is the source of Creation, so He must have been before the beginning. When we accept that, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) we declare that God is eternal. If He is eternal, He has to be Supreme and that is what gives Him the power of creativity. Honestly, I am not bright enough to know how He did it, I just must accept the fact that He did it. It is tempting for religious people to spend a lot of time debating non-believers about the process when we should spend our time affirming the providence. God is full of power – how He used it is up to Him. Let’s invest our time in accepting what He did and not worry as much about analyzing how He did it. Think About It!